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A man has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years for his role in
a fatal drive-by shooting nearly three years ago on an East Side street.

This morning, a Franklin County Common Pleas jury convicted Tyrece L. Ayers, 21, of murder in
the death of Tyrone L. Malcolm but acquitted him of the more serious charge of aggravated murder.

In order to win a conviction for aggravated murder, prosecutors had to prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that the crime was committed “with prior calculation and design.”

Although Ayers was accused of supplying the gun used in the shooting and later disposing of
the weapon, the jury found that he did not possess a gun and acquitted him of tampering with
evidence.

Judge Pat Sheeran imposed the mandatory sentence of life with no chance of parole for 15
years on the murder conviction, plus a mandatory five years because the jury found that the crime
involved discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle.

Ayers, formerly of Yorkshire Terrace on the East Side, testified Wednesday that he was a
passenger in the car but had no role in the shooting.

The driver, Quintin T. Woods, testified that Ayers, seated in the back seat, handed a
.357-caliber handgun to the shooter, front-seat passenger Alex Ferguson.

Malcolm, 18, died after a single shot fired by Ferguson struck him in the upper chest as he
walked on E. Livingston Avenue just east of Yearling Road about 10 p.m. on Jan. 23, 2010.

Ferguson, 20, pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and was sentenced in August to life in
prison with no chance of parole for 23 years.

Woods, 21, pleaded guilty in August 2011 to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to
eight years in prison.